The next item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S6M-16503, in the name of Michael Marra, on wraparound care for children with additional support needs. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament understands that local authorities have a statutory duty to provide out-of-school and holiday care for children classified as “in need”, which includes those who are disabled; is concerned by reports that many families of children with additional support needs are unable to find out-of-school care during holiday periods, including in Dundee and its surrounding areas; believes that the struggle to balance care-giving with employment can lead to routines being disrupted and is a cause of significant distress to families; further believes that reductions to local authority and third-sector organisations’ budgets have contributed to these issues, and notes the view that the Scottish Government and local authorities should take action to ensure that families of children with additional support needs do not face another summer of uncertainty and disruption.
12:59
I begin by thanking all members, from across the chamber, who supported the motion to enable this debate to take place.
With just under two months until the long annual holidays, many Scottish families will have already planned holidays here or abroad, booked leave from work and sorted childcare with relatives. They are signing up for football camps or outdoor activities and hoping for a long, sunny summer, starting today.
However, far too little of that is available to families of children with additional needs. For thousands of families, summer arrangements are as yet unknown and unknowable, and they are staring down yet another chaotic summer period without adequate childcare. I hesitate to call that period a “holiday”, for that is not a description of it that those families would recognise. It is far too often a time of increased anxiety and challenge, where routine disappears and hours at work are missed, and the build-up to it can take months. The knowledge of that vast chasm looms large for many families, and the stress that it imposes is acute. For many families, it defines what type of employment they can take, or whether they can even work at all.
In September 2024, I hosted a round-table meeting in Dundee to hear the stories of families who face those challenges year in, year out. Parents and carers attended, along with organisations including Dundee United Community Trust, the Yard and Happy Times Out of School Care Club. They were clear that needs are not being met—very far from it. Local authorities have a statutory duty under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 to provide out-of-school and holiday care to children who are classified as “in need”, which includes children with disabilities. Yet the usual childcare options, such as holiday clubs, are often not available or not appropriate for children with additional needs and disabilities.
Even when there are appropriate childcare options, information can be very hard to find or those services can be cancelled at the last minute, leaving working parents in the lurch and families in crisis.
I welcome the Scottish Government’s announcement ahead of the debate that it will provide £1 million to local authorities for holiday play schemes and activities for disabled children. I would be grateful if the minister, in her remarks, could confirm whether that is £1 million per authority or £1 million to be divided by 32 local authorities. With the holidays fast approaching, families need details now on what specific services will be available and where, so will that money be available this summer? I hope that the minister will be able to set out tangible actions that her Government and local government can take together to ensure that this summer can be different.
My constituent Nicola Donnelly is joining us in the public gallery today. Nicola’s son, Leo, is seven years old. Leo has cerebral palsy, which has resulted in developmental delays and visual impairment. Nicola has fought tirelessly for Leo and other kids like him to get the care and support that they deserve. Nicola told me this:
“Since Leo was born, he has fought for survival, had major operations and overcome medical and developmental hurdles with great spirit. To fail at finding something that should be commonplace, like a holiday club, felt very painful and a stark reminder of how inaccessible society remains for disabled children and how isolating life can be as a parent carer.”
Those kids and their families are not asking for special treatment; they are asking for what the law entitles them to. In a recent survey by the organisation Pregnant Then Screwed, 71 per cent of parents who responded said that they had difficulties in accessing wraparound care for their children. Of those parents, 75 per cent had reduced their hours at work or left work altogether. That takes a real toll on family finances, the health and wellbeing of parents and, frankly, our wider economy.
My constituent Louise’s son, Josh, has a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. He struggles in social settings, and his school attendance has been falling. As a single parent, Louise has had to give up her job working in a primary school with other children with additional support needs, so that she can be at home for her son. She has praised the “amazing” work of the Yard, and I know that many other constituents have been helped by the work of that excellent organisation. I recently visited its Easter holiday club in Dundee and met the children and parents enjoying play together there.
Louise has also told me that, without a section 23 referral from social work, despite the obvious difficulties that her son is experiencing, he cannot access many of the services that the local authority provides. It would be good if, in closing, the minister could address that particular issue. Louise said:
“I know how it feels to be a parent of a child with ASN and it’s hard and draining. You give up your own life to fight for them and you constantly hit a brick wall because there is nothing.”
Last Thursday at First Minister questions, the First Minister told Parliament that a person does not require a diagnosis of neurodivergence to access services and support. That is simply untrue. I very much believe that this Government’s moves to ship children who are awaiting an ADHD or autism diagnosis off the child and adolescent mental health services waiting list will exacerbate the many challenges that are experienced by families with neurodivergent children.
What do families need? They need to be able to plan, so they require timely information, with a programme of options that is published well in advance of holiday periods. That should be standard practice in local authorities across Scotland, and it should include referrals, costs, transport options and whether a section 23 referral will be required. They must be given the details that they need, including staff ratios, whether services are accessible and whether appropriate facilities are available. Parents and carers need to have confidence that the service will meet their child’s needs. We must make it easy, with a clear process for direct payments being provided and, where appropriate, personal assistance being engaged through self-directed support.
I thank organisations such as Contact, the Coalition of Carers in Scotland, PAMIS, Dundee Carers Centre and Pregnant Then Screwed for the work that they are doing to support families in such situations and for all the work that they did with me to raise awareness ahead of the debate. I know that colleagues will mention other organisations that work in their areas and do great work with these children. However, they can only do so much. At the heart of the issue is a Scottish Government that is telling families that they are entitled to services, but families are discovering that those services are simply nowhere to be found.
I look forward to hearing members’ accounts of families in their regions and constituencies. We can and must do better for Leo, Josh and thousands like them across Scotland—and, frankly, it should happen this summer. Let us actually solve the problem. [Applause.]
Before we move to the open debate, I gently remind those in the public gallery that this is a meeting in public rather than a public meeting, so they are discouraged from participating.
13:06
I commend Michael Marra for securing this important debate. During my nearly two decades’ tenure as an MSP, I have received lots of correspondence about the challenges that families with children with additional support needs face, and over the past 12 months I have certainly heard much of what Michael Marra has said.
One of the more pertinent issues is the lack of wraparound care. Wraparound care is critical for lots of families as it can support parents into work, but the need is even greater for parents with children with ASN. I read the briefing that Pregnant Then Screwed Scotland has provided, which states that, despite the statutory duty for local authorities to provide out-of-hours care for children with ASN, a staggering 71 per cent of surveyed parents reported serious difficulties in accessing that support.
Recently, I surveyed parents in my Greenock and Inverclyde constituency on this very issue, and my findings reflect Pregnant Then Screwed Scotland’s research. I announced one aspect of the survey yesterday, and I will now write to Inverclyde Council and councillors on its education committee as well as going back to the parents with all the findings. However, the key headline results from the survey, which generated more than 119 responses, are as follows: 94 per cent of respondents said that the current out-of-school care options for children with ASN in Inverclyde do not suit their child’s needs, 67 per cent do not receive out-of-school care for holiday provision for their ASN child, 69 per cent are either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the current care arrangements for ASN children in Inverclyde, and two thirds of respondents indicated that they have no access to wraparound support. It is unsurprising that the majority are unhappy with the current provision.
The situation is detrimental to children with ASN, but also to the wider family unit, as the impact on siblings and parents is also profound. The implications of a lack of wraparound support are significant not only for the child’s wellbeing and development but for the economic security and mental health of their parents.
As Pregnant Then Screwed Scotland’s briefing notes, the impact on employment is particularly severe. Michael Marra touched on that. Among those who could not access sufficient childcare, 29 per cent were forced to leave their jobs, 46 per cent had reduced their working hours, 37 per cent relied on informal care, often from ageing grandparents, and 39 per cent were able to continue working only due to flexible arrangements. Those are not just statistics. They represent real lives that are under immense pressure.
I know from speaking with local parents that the summer holidays come with a huge sense of dread. For many people, summer is a chance to enjoy more quality time with friends and family. Going on holiday or going away for the day can be special. However, for families with children with ASN, even one day out can require huge amounts of planning, and even more so if a child requires a changing places toilet.
I commend Stuart McMillan for his excellent speech and for the survey that he carried out, which echoes many of the findings from my constituency. He touched on the challenges of planning ahead and the need for local authorities to offer options well in advance so that families can plan. Are his constituents in Inverclyde having a similar experience to my constituents, in that they do not have that information in advance?
Yes, that is very much the case. The work that local parents have undertaken, and the pressure that they have put on Inverclyde Council, means that there is now more of a sense of engagement, which I welcome. In advance of this summer, an email was sent to parents in all the schools, asking whether they know of any families who would want to participate and take part in the activities to help children with ASN, so the pressure has been working.
Fundamentally, the issue is about children with ASN having similar opportunities to every other child in our communities. Wraparound care for children with ASN is hugely important and it needs to be given a lot more focus. We are now moving in the right direction, but—my goodness—there is still a long way to go. If there are any positive examples from across the country, I encourage local authorities to engage wider so that they can learn about what else is on offer. Fundamentally, it is about the kids.
13:11
I am very pleased to be able to contribute to the debate. I thank my friend Michael Marra for securing debating time on this important topic and for the way that he opened the debate by outlining issues that many members from across the chamber will recognise from their constituencies and regions. It is important that we take this time to discuss those issues and to hold the Government and local authorities to account for a lack of action to deal with them or to move things forward.
At the outset of my remarks, I declare an interest as a former employee of Enable Scotland and a former education convener in a local authority. It is in those guises that I approach the debate, as well as being a member for the West Scotland region who has had representation from many parents, children and young people with a learning disability or additional support needs who are struggling right now. I have been reflecting on Stuart McMillan’s comments. He gave a very good speech, and he has carried out his own survey work.
I am reminded that, back in 2016, Enable Scotland produced an important report called “#IncludED in the Main?!”, which looked at inclusion across education and childcare. It laid out 22 recommendations for the Government at that time, which encouraged it to think about how young people with additional support needs could be better included in the school day, the supports that are required in relation to wraparound childcare and how children with ASN could be included in activities such as sport, drama and all the other things that we would want all of our young people to be able to access. There were clear recommendations about how we need to support mainstream provision better to ensure that it can be more inclusive and that we have specialist provision.
Since that 2016 report, we have moved backwards on many of the issues that were outlined. That is a matter of great regret, and the Government needs to take it very seriously. It was clear in the work that was done by Enable Scotland that when parents were asked about their experience, they used words such as “battle” to describe their daily experience of getting provision for their child or young person. They talked about the anxiety and dread—which we have already heard about from colleagues—around accessing the support that they need during the summer holidays or other holiday periods. I am concerned that we have not addressed many of the recommendations in the report.
I approach the issue as a former convener of the education committee at East Renfrewshire Council. In East Renfrewshire, we were very fortunate to have excellent provision at the Isobel Mair school in Newton Mearns. I pay tribute to the school for all the excellent work that goes on there. I am sure that members recognise the excellent provision that is available in many communities.
However, because of significant cuts to council budgets over many years, funding decisions have meant that many opportunities for childcare and support have been reduced. For example, in my time in the council, we had to take decisions to reduce the extended school day and the summer holiday programme. None of us wanted to do that, but we were forced into that position by the inadequate funding from the Government. The Government needs to take cognisance of that and of its decisions—[Interruption.] I think that the minister is saying something from a sedentary position. I hope that she will address that point in her summing up, because it is important.
It is clear that there is a will among members across the chamber to get this right and provide adequate support not only so that the children and young people have a rich experience, but to support their parents, who are experiencing stress and anxiety and, as we have heard in the debate, are having to make choices about their working life that are detrimental to our wider economy in Scotland.
It is important that the Government offers its response today and that we, as a Parliament, take the issue seriously, do not forget it and continue to work to ensure that solutions are in place.
13:16
I, too, thank Michael Marra for securing this afternoon’s debate.
I fully agree with the comments of the two previous speakers. I am sure that members will be tired of hearing me say this, but it bears repeating as often as it takes for the message to break through: disabled people are being left behind in Scotland today. I agree that we have gone backwards in Scotland in the past number of years. Pre-pandemic, the situation was already bad, but, since then, the decline has been escalating and getting worse.
There is a worrying trend emerging as the country struggles to deal with our current economic predicament. It seems that, if sacrifices have to be made, the Government and local authorities are going to the most vulnerable in our society, and that is often disabled individuals. Third sector budgets are being cut and numerous charities are going to the wall. That is leaving undone the vital services that provide vulnerable people with support when the need for those is getting worse.
Nowhere is that more evident than in the gutting of after-school and holiday care for children with additional support needs. For parents of ASN children, after-school and holiday care is not a luxury; it is absolutely essential to allow them to take part in society and, in many cases, to hold a job to support their family.
A number of constituents have written to me over the past couple of weeks leading up to the debate. They have been put in an impossible situation because of the lack of adequate support. I will give an example. One individual who has written to me is a single parent with two children, the eldest of whom has both autism and ADHD. She is classed as her child’s carer but is also pursuing a degree at university. During the most recent school holiday, she managed to secure four days a week for her son at an ASN holiday club, which she describes as a godsend. However, thanks to a decision by the City of Edinburgh Council, she now has only two weeks’ cover for the summer holidays. That leaves her with five weeks with no support at all. How do we expect that mother to cope on her own? Moreover, she has told me that ASN children are, in effect, banned from mainstream holiday clubs because the charities that run them cannot afford to pay the staff who are required for one-to-one care.
As members are, I am sure, aware, additional support needs are becoming more prevalent. In Edinburgh, the proportion of children with ASN in education has grown to around 50 per cent. Without support, that represents a huge number of parents who are unable to work because of caring duties, and we should not forget that most of those caring responsibilities fall on women.
That is obviously not good enough. Apart from the morality of ensuring that everyone has access to meaningful work to support their family, it has economic implications for us in Scotland. The Social Justice and Social Security Committee recently produced a report on “Addressing Child Poverty Through Parental Employment”, in which it looked at trying to get women back into employment—in fact, that inquiry started back when the current Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise was a member of the committee. One of the key factors was enabling support for women to allow them to go back to work. However, my constituents are being told that, in the summer, there is no support for them.
I am tired of saying this, and I am sure that members are tired of hearing it, but disabled people and their families are being left behind. Children with ASN and their parents deserve our support, and they deserve much better than they are getting now.
I urge the Scottish Government and local authorities to deal with the situation. We have seven weeks until the summer holidays—-that is seven weeks for something to be done to help the most vulnerable in our society. I say to the minister that people do not want to hear warm words today; they want action so that they can live normal lives.
13:21
Supporting the most vulnerable people in our society at the early stage of their lives is vital if we are going to improve the wellbeing and living standards of people across Scotland, so I thank Michael Marra for bringing the debate to the chamber.
Unfortunately, children with additional support needs are paying the price for a lack of funding by the Scottish National Party Government. Our councils have faced a decade of underfunding, which means that there is massive pressure on education and on local support services in the third sector. Parents have raised the issue with me directly, and I heard from them at an Inspiring Scotland event about the pressures that local charities, our services and parents face.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child says that children with ASN, as well as their carers, have the right to special care and support during the child’s growth and development. As Michael Marra highlighted, the need for support does not stop once the school year is finished—if anything, children with ASN and their families or carers require more, not less, support outside term times. However, they suffer from a significant lack of consistent, accessible and affordable summer activities for children with ASN.
I thank the Edinburgh REPAIR—robust engagement with parents for ASN and inclusion reform—network for its excellent briefing. The City of Edinburgh Council organises the holiday hubs scheme, which is fantastic, but we do not have that support at the scale at which it is needed. Last year, only 260 of the 460 applicants were able to get places, and they received at most 16 days, from 9 to 3, of holiday hub care. That means that parents are struggling to balance childcare responsibilities with work obligations. There are massive pressures in that regard, and—as Michael Marra commented—the need for more information and support is key.
Studies have shown that children with ASN mostly just want to feel included, but the summer holidays bring isolation, boredom and social exclusion. The lack of support means that those young people and their working parents are going to struggle to get the opportunities that they need, and working parents are struggling to work around their jobs to care for their kids.
Carers of children with ASN often experience burnout and isolation as a result of those increased pressures. A 2020 report by Shared Care Scotland, “‘Holidays or Isolation?’ Research into holiday activity provision for disabled children and young people in Scotland”, noted that
“96% of respondents said that the summer holidays were when they needed most support.”
As Jeremy Balfour said, we need action, not warm words. The adult carer support plan was introduced under the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016, which states that local authorities “must provide support to” unpaid carers. However, the “State of Caring in Scotland 2024” research
“found that just 20% of unpaid carers said they had received an ACSP in the last 12 months.”
We need action now, and the lack of funding is a key reason why parents and their children are not getting the support that they need. Michael Marra’s point about having clarity on the additional funding that has been mentioned is absolutely critical. I want to know what that means for the councils in my region, because the holidays are weeks away and parents and their children need support now. We need increased investment, training and support for our carers, recognising and amplifying the vital role that they play in safeguarding Scotland’s public health, keeping our economy going and, crucially, giving our young people the support that they need now so that they can achieve their potential. Everybody should be signed up to that, and the Government needs to give that support now.
13:25
I thank Mr Marra for raising this issue and for leading the debate, and I thank all members for their speeches. I am sorry to hear some of the accounts that members have read out in relation to families’ access to services.
The subject of support for children who have disabilities and additional support needs—be it during the school day or, as has been highlighted in the debate, outside of school hours, such as during the holidays or activities—is an important and emotive one. That has been demonstrated by the passionate speeches that members have made.
I acknowledge the concerns and will respond to some of the points that have been made in the debate before setting out how we plan to address those concerns.
I hear very clearly the frustrations and challenges that are experienced by the parents and carers of children who have disabilities and additional support needs—from accessing specialist services that meet their expectations and provide quality experiences for their children to finding sustainable employment opportunities that are manageable around established care routines.
I have also heard parents and carers express the challenges that they experience in finding and accessing the services that they need to support them to work, when that is possible, to allow time for a short break and to ensure equality of opportunity for their children to take part in activities and play.
When it is available, holiday activity provision plays a vital role in supporting both child and parental health and wellbeing and has a disproportionately powerful impact on the lives of disabled children and their families. That can be extremely positive when the system works well but problematic when it does not.
Despite the challenges, many high-quality and well-established services are being delivered across Scotland. Many of them have been highlighted in the debate, and I commend the good work of local authorities and the third sector in delivering that support for families. Those services are often supported by parents and volunteers, which takes dedication and time.
However, I recognise that more must be done to ensure fair and consistent provision for children and families, and I acknowledge that a postcode lottery can sometimes exist, particularly in more remote and rural areas. I reaffirm the Government’s commitment to getting it right for every child.
As members have noted throughout the debate, the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 places statutory duties on local authorities to provide care, as is appropriate, to children in need in their area
“outside school hours; or... during school holidays”.
Local authorities have a statutory duty to consult
“at least once every two years”
the parents and carers of children in their area about providing appropriate care. They also have a duty to
“prepare and publish their plans in relation to the provision of”
such care. When that works well, that should help in relation to the delays and issues with planning ahead that members have raised. If local authorities have concerns about what they find following consultation, they are able to discuss those with the Government.
Will the minister take an intervention?
Of course.
I pressed the wrong button to indicate that I wanted to make an intervention, but I thank the minister for taking it anyway.
On the point about consultation, across Scotland but particularly in Glasgow, parents tell me that they do not feel engaged with local authority decisions on support for their children with additional support needs. What is the Government doing to monitor how local authorities engage with parents on that?
I am disappointed to hear that. What I will say at the end of my speech about what the Government is doing will directly address that point.
Local consultation should help local authorities to understand the specific needs of families with a child who has a disability or additional support needs. For example, I know that Dundee City Council has undertaken work to map its term-time and holiday services in order to show where providers can deliver a service for children with additional needs. However, as members have pointed out, that is not necessarily happening in the same way across all local authority areas, and that will need to be addressed.
Mr Marra has noted this already, but I am pleased to say that, in order to support local authorities in delivering provision for children during the holidays this year, we have committed in our programme for government to providing an additional £1 million of funding that will be targeted at holiday play schemes and activities for children with a disability. That investment will be distributed across local authorities, and it is to be delivered this summer. I hope that Mr Marra and members across the chamber will welcome that measure.
I do welcome that announcement, minister, but will you also commit to meeting the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities as soon as possible before the summer holidays to find out what is happening on the ground and what extra help the Scottish Government could give local authorities for this summer?
Always speak through the chair, please.
Again, what I will touch on at the end of my speech will address that point directly, but I have regular meetings with Councillor Tony Buchanan, the COSLA spokesperson, and I am more than happy to discuss the issue with him at my next meeting, which I believe will be arranged in due course.
The Government is absolutely committed to building a system of school-age childcare that meets the needs of all children, families and communities. Through projects that we have been funding with our investment to date, we are learning what is needed to provide high-quality, affordable activities and childcare provision for children with multiple and complex disabilities, as well as for children with additional support needs. The projects include those supported by our access to childcare fund and our early adopter communities in Fife, Shetland, Glasgow, Clackmannanshire, Inverclyde and Dundee. Projects such as Support, Help and Integration in Perthshire have been supporting families of children with profound and multiple learning difficulties for years and, since 2020, our funding has been supporting children and parents to access a reliable and high-quality service round about the school day and in the holidays.
Understanding the specific needs of families and children with disabilities or additional support needs through early delivery of services is a key part of the work of the school-age childcare programme. From our learning to date, we know that individual and creative solutions are often needed to ensure that a service is the right fit for a child and their family. Our reporting processes will help to develop a picture of the number and proportion of families accessing childcare and family support services who have children with disabilities or additional support needs. I hope that that response helps to address some of the concerns that have been highlighted.
In addition to the investment in learning, my officials are beginning to work with partners across local government to understand the range of approaches being taken to implement their statutory duties. By working through an improvement lens and identifying opportunities to strengthen existing approaches across local authorities, we will move towards a position that ensures that families have the support that they need, regardless of where they reside in Scotland.
Will the member give way?
Do I have time, Presiding Officer?
Yes.
I appreciate the minister taking the time to give way. I know that she would like to welcome Nicola Donnelly, my constituent, to the gallery. Unfortunately, Nicola missed my opening speech due to the changeover.
I really appreciate the minister’s tone and the proactive approach that she is taking. However, the issue of timing and forward notice is particularly concerning to me. Will she emphasise in her discussions with officials the fact that people have to be able to plan? Will she consider, say, a charter of best practice for local authorities that will allow families to plan, ensure that they have the details that they require and make things easy with regard to funding? It might be, say, a simple checklist to ensure that local authorities are meeting this aim and taking a best-practice approach across the country.
I can give you the time back, minister.
I am happy to consider all options. Mr Marra will know that I cannot commit to anything in the chamber, but, as I have said, local government and the Scottish Government are embarking on work to try to find a solution, and I have committed to raising the issue at my next meeting with Councillor Tony Buchanan.
Once again, I thank Mr Marra for bringing the debate to the chamber. It is, and will continue to be, an important and challenging issue, but it is one that, with local authorities at the forefront of delivery, we must collectively work to resolve.
That concludes the debate.
13:34 Meeting suspended.Previous
First Minister’s Question Time